port the
Brahmin, and execute the laws he makes or interprets. The third class
cultivate the soil as proprietors, and engage in trade and commerce. The
Sudra is the servant of all the others. Resulting from the intermarriage of
members of different castes there are various mixed classes. The lowest is
the child of a Brahmin mother and a Sudra father, though in Southern India
the Pariah is still lower.

"Of the vast population of India, three-fourths are Hindus in religion. The
Buddhists are mostly in Burma, and there are over 57,000,000 Mohammedans.
The number of Christians by the last census was 2,284,380; and I am sorry
there are no more of them. The Sikhs and the Jains are Indian sects which
flourish in certain localities; as there are nearly two millions of the
former in the Punjab, and over half a million of the latter in Bombay, and
approaching that number in Rajputana, with comparatively few elsewhere. The
Parsees, or Parsis, who were driven from Persia by the Mohammedans, number
76,774 in Bombay,--not the city, but the presidency.

"In the small state of Travancore, where my friend Sir Modava was born,
there are said to be four hundred and twenty different castes. The
distinction is sometimes the result of occupation, branch of trade, or some
accidental circumstance. Let me read a short extract from a book from your
library:--

"'Among the lowest classes caste has degenerated into a fastidious
tenacity of the rights and privileges of station. For example, the man
who sweeps will not take an empty cup from your hand; your groom will
not mow a little grass; a coolie will carry any load, however offensive,
on his head, but even in a matter of life and death would refuse to
carry a man, for that is the business of another caste.

"'When an English servant pleads that such a thing is not his place, his
excuse is analogous to that of the Hindu servant when he pleads his
caste. When an Englishman of birth or profession, which is held to
confer gentility, refuses to associate with a tradesman or mechanic; or
when members of a secret society exclude all others from their meetings;
or when any other social distinction arises, it would present itself to
the mind of the Hindu as a regulation of caste.'

"It is a barrier to the progress of Christianity in many ways. It is
generally thought that a Christian convert cannot be restored to his
caste if he should backslide; and the superstition of the low-class
natives is a